Rumors speculating about release of a high-end Nokia phone have circulated the net for months. Today, HMD Global finally made the phone official. Called the Nokia 8, the handset runs Android platform and impresses us with simple, though simple design and surprisingly powerful hardware. All those features allow the device to compete with the most cutting-edge rivals including the Galaxy S8 and Pixel phones.

The long awaited premium Nokia 8 phone debuted today powered by Snapdragon 835, advanced dual-camera and the latest Android OS. In other words, ready to compete with popular Galaxy S8 and Pixel phones.

Design

Following the Nokia’s traditional design approach, the Nokia 8 comes dressed in a metal body that curves at edges and hides a large 5.3-inch screen. Made of a single piece of 6000-series aluminum the body shell is tagged with IP54 certification protecting the device against light splashes.

A front fingerprint scanner takes care of advanced data protection, while capacitive navigation buttons enable easy and convenient input. Perhaps the phone doesn’t speak particularly sophisticated design language, but its maker didn’t forget to equip it with a traditional headphone jack. As for color options, you can choose among glossy or matte blue, copper and grey.

Screen panel

Mentioned above 5.3-inch LCD screen panel sports 2560x1440p of resolution that translates to 550 ppi and comes as a guaranty of stunning viewing experience. What’s more the display is also promised to deliver improved outdoor readability thanks to 700 nits of brightness. Using always-on technology the display automatically shows notifications for missed calls and unread messages. Relying on a low-powered section of the panel the always-on feature has minimal effect on battery life. Except for being extremely sharp the display is also pretty durable thanks to a layer of Gorilla Glass 5 that protects it against scratches and cracking.

Processor, OS, RAM and ROM

Specs-wise, the Nokia 8 can compete with any other high-end flagship currently available on the market. Just like the Galaxy S8, the phone works on the Snapdragon 835 chip. This powerful and energy-efficient SoC comes paired with 4GB RAM and 64GB or 128GB of built-in storage optionally. If that’s still not enough, you can always expand the native storage using microSD cards.

In order to avoid overheating issues, HMD equipped the Nokia 8 with a special cooling system in the form of a copper pipe that pulls heat away from the chip, spreading it across the device’s surface. Thanks to this the processor is able to work more intensively for longer. Such processing parameters will surely deliver smooth performance of Android 7.1.1 Nougat that will soon update to Android O. All these will be nothing without a user-replaceable 3,090 mAh battery with QuickCharge 3.0 support that keeps the whole thing running.

Dual-Camera

Moving on to the most exciting feature of the freshly released Nokia 8, the handset arrives equipped with a dual-camera system consisting of two 13MP cameras. The main F2.0 sensor sports OIS, while the secondary shooter is a monochrome unit. The equally cool 13MP snapper with fast phase-detection auto-focus set on the front provides the Nokia 8’s users with extremely sharp selfies. All three cameras employ Zeiss optics for greater clarity.

Although the dual-camera setup is still pretty much a mystery, it will most possibly work by combining visual information from both cameras and transforming it into a single photo. Since monochrome sensors deliver higher light sensitivity, the data can be used to improve details captured by the color camera. However, quite surprisingly, the most interesting camera feature has little in common with the dual-camera system. Called Dual-Sight the mode uses the camera app’s support for native live-streaming, allowing you to stream videos from front and rear cameras in a single video feed comprised of two halves. Meanwhile, sound is recorded using Nokia’s OZO tech for 360-degree audio reproduction.

Availability and pricing

Speaking of the availability and price details, the Nokia 8 is expected to hit the market sometime in September. Initially, the phone will be accessible in the European market priced at the equivalent of $700. At this point sadly, HDM haven’t confirm whether the Nokia 8 will launch in the States.